New Home Building Has ‘Fallen Significantly’ Since EU Referendum

Construction of new homes has fallen significantly since the EU referendum.House builders are also sceptical that the government’s target of building one million new homes by 2020 will be met. A poll of more than 400 housebuilding companies in England was carried out and is published shortly after the Chancellor confirmed ambitious housebuilding targets in the Budget. The survey shows just 38% of respondents had increased their rate of house building over the last year.  This compares to 50% of house builders when asked the same question in a previous survey in May 2016 before the EU referendum. Read more on 24housing.

House Sales Show 40% Drop Over Year From March 2016

House sales were down by 40% year-on-year in March, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures show. The plunge compared with a year earlier is likely to be due to a stamp duty hike for people buying second homes, including buy-to-let investors, which was imposed on April 1 2016. Estate agents reported seeing a rush of landlords snapping up properties last year before the deadline, prompting a spike in sales. HMRC's report said home sales figures for March 2016 had been "unusually high". It also said non-tax changes, such as the EU referendum last summer, may also have caused changes in the property market. Read more on the Belfast Telegraph website.

Mortgages Hit An Eight-Month High

Mortgage lending has hit an eight-month high as house-buyers return to the market. Bank of England figures showed 67,505 loans were approved for house purchase in November – the most since March. The report suggested confidence has returned to the housing market following a dip in lending in the aftermath of the EU referendum in June. Confidence was also hit by a string of tax changes introduced by George Osborne, including higher stamp duty on more expensive properties and a raid on buy-to-let landlords. Just 61,359 loans were approved for house purchase in August, the lowest level since February 2015, as would-be buyers stayed away. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Increase In Property Companies In 'Financial Distress' As Housing Market Slows To A Crawl

Almost one in five companies in the British property industry are in financial distress after a year in which it was hit with slowing market activity as a result of changes to stamp duty an uncertainty surrounding the referendum. More than 25,000 companies in the industry – equivalent to 18.3pc of real estate companies including property managers, residential landlords and lettings agents – are in this state, according to research from Begbies Traynor, the insolvency specialists. The number is some 6.6pc higher than at the same time last year. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Housing Crisis Must Be Tackled By Both Government And Industry

The UK is facing a chronic housing shortage, but housebuilders’ shares have taken a hammering in recent months. On the surface it is a conundrum. However, there are many forces at play. This year's changes to stamp duty have been inflationary at the bottom end of the London market and deflationary at the top. As a result, confidence and sentiment have been badly hit. The EU referendum then heaped on a layer of uncertainty, depressing share prices further. The sector is also being hamstrung by a shortage of skills and some materials. Read more on the City AM website.

Buy-To-Let Index Records Second Highest Rents Ever

Recent rent increases in England and Wales levelled off in October, with the average rent coming to £900 a month according to the latest buy-to-let index from Your Move. This monthly average rent was down marginally from September’s figure of £907. Despite the slight drop from September to October, this represents the second highest rent ever recorded in the survey, it said, with rents across England and Wales having grown by 12% in the year to October 2016. “After a turbulent year for the economy it is no surprise the rental market has paused for breath this month,” said Adrian Gill, director of lettings agents, Your Move. “Despite economic uncertainty and the European Union referendum result, the lettings market has powered through the year so far.” Read more on Housing Excellence.

House Hunters Return, But Struggle To Find Available Homes

House hunters are returning to the UK residential market after the June referendum, but may face a lack of purchase options as the supply of available homes remains restricted, according to our latest residential market survey. The survey shows;

§  Homebuyer demand has increased for the second consecutive month.

§  Across the country, 10% more respondents reported rise in homebuyer interest.

§  The number of properties on the market dropped, and while prices are reported to have risen at the national level, respondents in central London report the eighth consecutive drop in prices.

Read the full survey on the RICS website.

UK House Prices To Flatline, Says Forecast

The British property market’s post-crash boom will come to a halt in 2017 when house prices flatline after five years of increases, according to an industry forecast. Uncertainty caused by the EU referendum and weaker consumer sentiment will result in two quiet years in the housing market, according to property firm Savills, with zero growth next year followed by a 2% rise in 2018. In London and the east Midlands price growth will grind to a halt, while in the north of England, Wales and Scotland prices are expected to fall over the year, Savills said. Only the south of England outside the capital is expected to buck the trend, with growth of up to 2.5% predicted in some regions. Read more on the Reuters website.

Right To Buy Extension Delayed By Brexit Vote

The Right to Buy extension to housing association tenants is set to be delayed due to the EU referendum result, according to the CLG official leading on the scheme. Guidelines for the voluntary Right to Buy programme now have no fixed publication deadline for coming out, as civil servants prioritise dealing with the uncertainty brought about by a new government and the Brexit vote. Officials had hoped to publish guidelines within the next six months. Further details of the government’s position on the subject will come out with the Autumn Statement on 23 November.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Buy-To-Let And Second Homes Made Up A Quarter Of All Property Sales This Summer

A quarter of properties snapped up by buyers in the summer were either as a buy-to-let or a second home. Despite typical stamp duty costs tripling for second home buyers in April, HMRC data shows that 56,100 of 235,000 property purchases in the third quarter included the additional surcharge. This stamp duty hike clawed in an extra £440million for the taxman in the three month period to September. The statistics show in the three months of April, May and June, 30,300 of 207,900 purchases were for second properties, indicating investors had already rushed to beat the 1 April hike. This data indicates that despite the extra costs and the EU referendum decision, appetite for buy-to-let remains robust. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Property Prices - Biggest Quarterly Fall In Five Years

House prices in six British regions still haven't climbed past their pre-crisis peak, a new index from IHS Markit and Halifax shows. Property values in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire and Humber, the North and North West are still below levels reached in 2007, before the financial crisis struck. The quarterly data also show that property values have suffered their biggest fall for five years in the period between June and September, the aftermath of the EU referendum decision. In the period between April and June 2016, prices were up 1.6 per cent, the data shows. The current average property price sits at £214,140 compared to £215,168 in the previous quarter, a £1,028 drop. Read more on the thisismoney website.

Cheap Loans To Encourage Developers

The Conservatives are poised to announce a £3 billion house building fund which will provide developers with cheap loans and funding in a bid to "get Britain building" after the EU referendum vote. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is expected to use his Autumn statement to unveil a housing fund which will be targeted at small and medium-sized developers. The fund will offer developers cheap loans or financial guarantees as the Government takes more financial risk than it has ever done before in a bid to get more homes built. A Whitehall source said that the fund will be designed to reduce red tape which led to the failure of previous schemes. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Five Million Private Renters 'Risk Housing Crisis Without Wage'

More than five million working rental sector tenants are at risk of being unable to cover their housing costs if they lost their wage, a report estimates. The research, authored by Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, warned the growth of the rental sector in recent years, combined with possible post-EU referendum rises in unemployment, could create a "toxic cocktail" for tenants who may find they are not eligible for housing benefit or that it may not fully cover their rent. The report found a steep rise across the UK in the number of working people who would potentially be at risk of being unable to meet their rent if they lost their wage through unemployment or sickness. Read more on the AOL website.

Brexit Not Yet Creating A UK Housing Recession

Since the European Union Referendum the number of residential properties advertised for sale in the UK has increased and average asking prices have reduced by 0.2%, new research shows. While the number of properties with a reduced asking price has increased from 29.3% to 34.5%, mortgage availability remains broadly unchanged. The research says that listings volumes do not suggest a slowdown and an analysis of residential property listings on major UK property portals and have found that since the EU referendum the number of listings has increased by 3.6%. Read more on the Property Wire website.

20 Ways To Tackle The Housing Crisis

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has set out its key recommendations for dealing with the UK’s dire housing crisis. With a new government and the leave result of the EU referendum, it’s more vital than ever to ensure design quality isn’t comprised as we ramp up the construction industry to keep Britain’s economy growing and build much needed new homes. The new policy document, ‘Housing Matters: #20ways to tackle the housing crisis’, advocates better use of public resources and public sector land, more locally-made decisions, greater focus on good design, increased support for new types of housing development, sustainable and resilient homes and a more transparent housing market. Download a copy of the recommendations from the RIBA website.

Demand For Retirement Homes In UK Slows

The uptake of retirement housing in the UK softened in the second quarter of this year as many downsizers paused plans ahead of the European Union referendum vote, according to the latest quarterly review. Overall new buyer registrations for retirement properties slipped by over 20% from the first quarter to 4,744, a 30% fall on the same period last year, as uncertainty before the referendum slowed the market. However, the data from retirement property specialist Retirement Homesearch, also shows that the number of property viewings at 2,974 and instructions at 513 remained steady on first quarter numbers, showing that registered buyers are still actively looking to downsize.  Read more on the Property Wire website.

Government To Combine Building Funds

The government is preparing to launch a £3bn loan fund for housebuilding which will roll up existing schemes into a single pot. The government is close to announcing its Home Building Fund, which was trailed in the Queen’s Speech. House builders have been briefed in recent weeks by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) that existing funds will be combined to form one pot. An announcement will take place after the 23 June EU referendum, due to pre-vote ‘purdah’ rules limiting government announcements. The government will remove many of the restrictions and limitations on who can bid and what sort of scheme is eligible for funding.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Residential Property Transactions Slumped 45% in a Quarter

Residential property transactions slumped 45% between March and April this year, according to the latest figures from HMRC. A surge in buy-to-let purchases in March to beat the April deadline for the higher stamp duty charged on additional properties was cited as a chief cause of the fall in transactions, but some industry commentators suggested uncertainty over the outcome of next month’s EU referendum was dampening the market. In April 2016 there were 84,280 residential property transactions, according to HMRC. This seasonally adjusted estimate is 45.2% lower than March 2016. Furthermore, April ‘s figure is 14.5% lower compared with the same month last year. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

New Buyers Deserted Housing Market In April

The number of people interested in buying a house in April fell to its lowest level for nearly eight years, according to surveyors across the UK. Those who saw a drop in enquiries last month outnumbered those who saw a rise by 22%. That is the highest figure reported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICs) since August 2008. RICs said the main reason was the stamp duty rise on 1 April, and the uncertainty around the EU referendum. The number of new enquiries fell most dramatically in London, but also fell in nine other regions of the UK. Read more on the RICS website.

Tory Climbdown Over Pay-To-Stay Plan To Raise Social Housing Rents

Ministers are preparing a climbdown over controversial plans to force hundreds of thousands of social housing tenants to pay market rents once they earn more than £30,000 a year – as they “clear the decks” of controversial policies ahead of the EU referendum. George Osborne has abandoned a package of radical pension reforms, including cuts to tax relief for higher earners, for fear of upsetting voters and causing a political distraction. The Observer now understands that ministers are also planning to modify hugely contentious elements of the housing reforms the chancellor announced last summer. A retreat on the “pay to stay” policy – which is under attack from a cross-party group in the House of Lords – will be seen as part of an attempt to avoid issues that could create negative headlines before the 23 June vote. Read more on the Observer website.